


My Name Isn't Alina (It's Richie to you)

by shane_madej_is_full_of_shit



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bill Denbrough is a Good Friend, Coming Out, I love my boys so much, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Stanley Uris is a Good Friend, Trans Richie Tozier, coming out is hard in 1988 but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21564229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shane_madej_is_full_of_shit/pseuds/shane_madej_is_full_of_shit
Summary: Coming to terms with your gender is hard enough. Now imagine coming out as a transgender male in 1988 to your three best friends.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Richie Tozier & Everyone
Comments: 3
Kudos: 189





	My Name Isn't Alina (It's Richie to you)

Alina was beautiful. She wore contacts that showed off her big, brown doe eyes. She soft, pink lips and long almost black hair that was naturally wavy. Freckles dotted her rosy cheeks in a way that reminded Eddie of constellations. She wore a lot of yellow or blue sundresses to school. Sometimes her feet were covered by mary janes that Stan loved.

But she wasn’t happy.

She hated her big eyes, soft lips, and long hair. She despised when people called her missus or ma’am. She refused to wear any kind of makeup or wear dresses outside of school. She only really liked to wear tennis shoes. Alina liked football and fishing, not dancing and painting. Alina didn’t want to let her hair down and run her hands through it, she wanted to put it up and hide it under a baseball cap. She wanted to wear crappy goodwill tees with dad overshirts and shorts and her socks pulled too high.

She wanted to be like the boys.

The first time Alina came to school with a black eye, it was November 14th, 1988. Henry Bowers had a strict no punching the girls rule, he saved the girls for other things as disgusting as that is, and the boys doubted Greta threw hands with anyone. They all decided Stan should talk to Alina about it, much to Stanley’s disarray. 

Stan did end up talking to Alina, but never told any of the other boys what they talked about. Alina never told them either, but she started wearing some of Stanley’s shirts and shorts. 

On November 18th, 1988, Alina and Bill hung out after school. Bill asked why she never wore makeup. She said, “I don’t like how it feels.” All he said back was oh. After a couple minutes, Alina broke the silence by asking, “Hey, when it’s just us, could you call me Richie, like, short for Richard?”

“I mean, yeah? Why?” Bill asked with confusion lacing his words. He paused the movie, Bambi, and turned to look at Alina. Her hair was pulled back and covered by a cap. She had one of Stan’s blue button ups and her chest looked as flat as Bill’s, but he didn’t question it, he felt like he’d asked enough already.

“‘Cause that’s my name.”

“Is that why you look like a boy now?”

“I am a boy now.”

“Okay, cool.”

Bill only called Alina “Richie” when it was just the two of them. Sometimes, he’d forget and keep apologizing, but Alina assured him it was okay.

During the Winter Formal, Alina wore a red button down, long black pants, and some of Bill’s (whose things fit Alina much, much better than Stan’s did) dress shoes. Henry pushed her twenty minutes into the dance and called her a dyke. So she pushed him and called him a sloppy bitch. Henry threw his ‘no hitting girls’ policy out the window and swung at Alina. Her nose was broken.

For Christmas, Bill and Stan threw together money and bought Alina many sports bras, so she could layer those instead of wrapping ace bandages around her breasts. She cried so hard that she had to use the inhaler Eddie left at her house once.

January 9th, 1989, Alina came back to school, just like everyone else. Except her hair was cut, her chest was flatten, and she traded her contacts for thick-rimmed glasses. She was wearing one of Bill’s sweaters and a pair of his jeans with one of Stan’s belts. She felt much more comfortable.

The following Friday, Eddie and Alina hung out after school. They went to the arcade. Eddie asked what was going on with Alina while they played Street Fighter.

“Nothing.”

“Really? You think I haven’t noticed you and Stan and Bill hanging out all the time and you wearing their clothes?” Eddie came off a lot more bitter than he wanted to. He really didn’t mean to accuse Alina of being a slut. But that’s exactly what happened.

“What are you implying Eds?” She still played the game but gave Eddie a shocked glare out of the corner of her eye.

“Don’t call me Eds. And I think you know exactly what I mean.” Eddie really missed her long hair and cute yellow sundresses, but he also liked her new look. All he wanted to know is why?

Alina gasped and backed up from the machine, “I am not a whore, Kaspbrak.” Eddie couldn’t help but get a bit frightened at the use of his last name. She only called him that when she was legitimately upset or doing some sort of over-dramatic stunts. She was not doing an over-dramatic stunt.

“Alina, wait-”

“Richard.”

“What?”  
“My name is Richie, you asshole.” And she ran out the doors.

By the 16th of January 1989, everyone knew about what happened at the arcade. Alina was the target of most of Henry and Greta’s torture. At the end of school, Henry grabbed her wrist and pulled her backwards. She fell onto the concrete and smacked her head against the sidewalk. She tried to get up, but Patrick kicked her.

“Little girls just don’t understand, do they?” Henry hovered above her, a hand on either side of her face. “We’ll just have to teach Alina here a lesson won’t-”

“Richie.”

“Excuse me?”

“My name is Richie, you dickwad!” Alina, no, Richie brought his knee up and hit Henry directly in the crotch. Henry fell off and Richie made a run for it. 

Richie still didn’t want to talk to Eddie by the 20th, but he knew he was going to have to. After school, Richie walked his bike home with Eddie. They sat, shivering, on Eddie’s porch. Eddie asked if Richie was a boy and Richie told him yes.

“Then hold on.” Eddie stuck out his hand, “Hello, sir. My name is Eddie Kaspbrak, and you are?”

“Richard Tozier, but you can call me yours, Eds.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Eddie sighed with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It’d be difficult adjusting to life without Alina. But Eddie could definitely get used to Richie.


End file.
